Substrates having a rough slip resistant non-skid surface are employed as floors, foot walks, stairways, ladders, scaffolding, platforms, and all areas where people may stand or walk. Such non-skid surfaces may be produced by bonding abrasive material or particles of grit to a metal or other backing material adapted to be bolted or secured in place to receive and resist wear.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,444 ("Palena") discloses and claims a method by which a rough non-skid coating is applied to a substrate. Particularly, Palena teaches a method by which a grit or non-skid material is bonded with a metal to the surface of a substrate. The Palena patent, however, is particularly directed to a method for constructing aircraft landing mats in a production facility wherein the substrate is passed on a conveyor beneath a series of electric arc metal spray apparatus. Specifically, Palena teaches a process whereby a clean, dry metal panel or mat is covered with loose grit. The layer of loose grit is then preliminarily locked or bonded to the metal mat by a low velocity spray of molten metal droplets from an arc metal spray apparatus. After being preliminarily locked or bonded to the metal mat, a finish coat of relatively high velocity, molten metal is deposited onto the surface of the mat over the grit.
The Palena process, however, has been limited to use in production facilities. The metal panels treated by the Palena process to impart a non-skid surface to the panels in such facilities were then bolted in place at the site of use. The non-skid surface which eventually wears out with use, must periodically be reapplied. The current practice is to remove the non-skid panels from service and ship them back to the production facility where a new non-skid surface may be applied to the metal panels. The re-treated metal panels are then shipped back to the site of use for reinstallation.
The need to perform the non-skid surface application process in a production facility results in added costs for removal and shipment of worn panels for retreatment. Also, spare panels must be provided for use while other panels are being retreated. Otherwise the walkway or other facilities must be taken out of service while the worn panels are retreated. All of which amounts in increased cost.
Additionally, the metal panels for use in the Palena process are necessarily limited in size such that they may be handled at the production facility and shipped to the site of use for installation.
What is needed is a process whereby a rough slip resistance non-skid surface having all of the benefits of the non-skid surface provided by Palena may be applied to a substrate in the field at the site of use.